Daredevil: Born Again season two wraps up with a satisfying conclusion that paves the way for more pain ahead. It was full of intense violence, revelations, and payoffs that propelled this season forward while wrapping up a lot of the season’s main threads. Let’s dive into the episode and the season overall.
But before I get into the praise, I want to touch base on the gunshot wound from last week. I’m not sure why this thread happened if Matt didn’t end up using it, with it only really serving to make him late for court. You’re telling me there was no video footage of the AVTF shooting at Matt and the police in the courtroom parking lot? We saw that there was a security camera across the street in this episode where Fisk’s would-be assassin was located, and yet, the courtroom itself is camera-free? I don’t buy it, and not sure why Matt didn’t just present that in court against Fisk. Not like he wasn’t already bringing out the big guns.
Because, yup, Matt pulled a Tony Stark. Knowing he needed a witness to the events of the Northern Star sinking from the beginning of the season, Matt reveals that he is Daredevil in open court to bring Fisk down, which in turn would have Karen’s case dismissed. He was definitely pushing his luck, I’d say, as Fisk wasn’t the one on trial here, so it’s amazing Matt got as far as he did in open court. His plan is ultimately successful, but that doesn’t mean Fisk is going down easily. In a setpiece that’s sure to conjure up incidents from January 6th, protestors storm the courthouse in an attempt to bring Fisk in themselves after he refuses to step down from the office of mayor. This doesn’t go well, with Fisk going on a rampage, killing dozens of civilians. It was so intense that the offer of exile and amnesty seemed far-fetched, as there were so many witnesses to Fisk’s little massacre. The man should’ve been locked up for life, why toss him on a beach? I get that the idea is that Fisk is alone now with no one to manipulate, thus a worse fate for him, but it still takes a fair amount of disbelief to get on board with this idea.
So will Fisk be a major player next season? Unknown, but it does seem that Heather will step into the role as potentially the primary antagonist in season three as she dons the mask of Muse. Not only that, but she sees herself without the mask in the mirror’s reflection, suggesting the mask is who she really is, a little bit of wonderful irony considering her stance on masked individuals. And knowing that her ex-boyfriend is indeed Daredevil, I’m sure Matt will be the target of her wrath, even if he is in prison by the end of this season for vigilantism. It looks like New York City will need some new defenders, such as Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, the latter of whom made a cameo appearance at the end of this episode. Also, I’m going to assume Buck survived his gunshot to the gut courtesy of Bullseye, but I’m a little surprised that he did, both from a biological and narrative plot point.
Season two of Born Again, I’d say, was a much stronger season than the first one. It was tonally consistent and felt more in line with the Netflix run of the show, emphasizing darkness, violence, and the grim reality of crime and vigilantism. It wasn’t perfect; some of the threads and newer characters just haven’t connected as much as the original characters have, but the writing was so much stronger overall this time around. If you were iffy about the first season of Daredevil: Born Again, but liked the three seasons on Netflix, then I would recommend this one. It felt like what the show should have been in the first place, a show that prioritizes complex characters and rewarding plot points. It’s not perfect, but it’s overall really solid and consistently so.
